Qin Yun led Yi Xiao as they proceeded forward under the protection of the Cyclic Sword Flash barrier. The Heavy Sand Sword was kept in his sleeve, constantly prepared for any situation.
The long corridor was dark, with stone lining the walls.
While they proceeded along the corridor, a wind began to stir. Formless blasts began a relentless assault on the Cyclic Sword Flash.
“Immortal Scenic Yang’s array formation shouldn’t be this ruthless,” Yi Xiao said under her breath. “After Second Uncle triggered the array formation, he did not last long before he was diced to death. I was lucky and was only pulled into this underground spot. But if not for you, I would have been diced to death by the formless blasts just a short while later.”
Qin Yun nodded. “This formless blast comes without warning and leaves without a trace. I only detect it when it enters my sword intent domain. It’s like a top assassin.”
“Qin Yun, you have to be careful. The creator must have his reasons to set up such a powerful array formation.” Yi Xiao alerted immediately.
“I know.” Qin Yun was also on high alert. Similarly, he did not wish to die. He still wanted to bring Yi Xiao out with him.
The corridor winded around.
As they proceeded through the corridor, they would be struck by the formless blasts.
“Oh?” When Qin Yun and Yi Xiao passed a bend, they saw an exquisite hall ahead of them. After stepping into the hall’s corridors, they did not receive any further attacks. The duo turned to look at the dark corridor they came from and could not help but be puzzled.
“This must be Immortal Scenic Yang’s meditation grounds where he secludes himself.” Yi Xiao guessed.
“Let’s enter to take a look.” Qin Yun led Yi Xiao and continued maintaining the Cyclic Sword Flash while carefully proceeding forward.
There was only a thin mat in the hall that looked very simple and elegant.
There were also folding screens to the left of the hall. There were rooms behind the screen, a bookshelf, chairs and further behind, there was a bed.
“Immortal Scenic Yang must have done his calligraphy in here and sleeps there,” commented an observant Qin Yun.
“Qin Yun, there’s a backdoor here,” said Yi Xiao immediately.
“Let’s take a look.”
The wooden door to the side was easily pushed open.
Beyond the wooden door was, to Qin Yun and Yi Xiao’s surprise, a garden. It was an underground garden with the ceiling mounted with beads that emitted light, illuminating the garden. Inside the garden were some flowers and grass. Even though there was perennially no sun, this vegetation continued to grow. It was truly quite fascinating.
“Qin Yun.” Yi Xiao tugged at Qin Yun and pointed into the distance.
“Oh?” Qin Yun was shocked when he turned his head.
In the corner of the garden sat a cross-legged man. He was motionless and did not have any signs of breathing.
“This garden doesn’t have any array formations. My sword intent domain also senses that there are no fluctuations in the vicinity. It should be very safe.” Qin Yun withdrew his Cyclic Sword Flash and wielded his Intrinsic Flying Sword.
Qin Yun and Yi Xiao walked over.
The person sitting cross-legged was a white-haired elder. He was dressed in black robes and was extremely thin.
Qin Yun and Yi Xiao looked at the stone wall beside which had words engraved on it.
“I knocked open the gate of immortality at the age of twelve while cultivating the talisman amulet lineage. I was ordinary for more than twenty years, and at the age of thirty-six, obtained a Sword Immortal Legacy. I gained insights into sword intent and converted to being a sword immortal. From then on, I became famous and was invincible for three centuries. Immortals and fiendcelestials have been defeated under my sword, and I have once killed a fiendcelestial. However, my lifespan was limited to five hundred years. I searched for every manual in the world but eventually failed to create an Essence Soul Dharmic formulation for the sword immortal lineage. Without forming the Essence Soul, there is no eternal youth, so how can I be called a sword immortal? What a joke!”
There was a line of text written beneath: ‘Elder Sword.’
“Elder Sword?” Qin Yun and Yi Xiao were astonished.
“It’s him?” Qin Yun looked at the cross-legged corpse. This was a famous sword immortal in history, yet here he was dead.
Yi Xiao said, “Elder Sword has quite an eccentric and unreasonable personality but his strength is unfathomable. In his era, he was number one among everybody beneath the Essence Soul realm! Be it humans, demons, or the Four Seas’ Water race, he was truly invincible. What can be confirmed is that he had once slain a fiendcelestial from Fire Lotus Palace. Defeating fiendcelestials and killing one is completely different things.”
Qin Yun nodded. “To kill a fiendcelestial at the Connate Golden Core realm! Impressive, truly impressive.”
“I heard that back then, even immortals and fiendcelestials did not dare offend Elder Sword. After all, due to the large amount of karma he had, they would probably invoke the tribulations on themselves if they killed Elder Sword. It would kill them on the spot.” Yi Xiao was a Divine Firmament Chapter disciple and also a daughter of the Yi family, so she was very knowledgeable about such histories. “But in order to create a Dharmic formulation that allows sword immortals to enter the Essence Soul realm, he sought manuals everywhere. However, manuals are the cornerstone heritage of a sect! He naturally forced some immortals and fiendcelestials to take action. However, those immortals and fiendcelestials did not dare kill him. All they did was capture him.”
“However, the outcome of the acts of these immortals and fiendcelestials was that many of them were defeated by him.” Yi Xiao shook her head. “And one of them was killed by him.”
“Elder Sword’s Intrinsic Flying Sword was supposedly very marvelous. It was described as a single flying sword but it could be disassembled into seven flying swords that could form an array formation.” Yi Xiao sighed. “Elder Sword’s attainments in the art of array formations is also extremely brilliant. The ruthless array formation from outside was probably left behind by him.”
Qin Yun nodded. “What a pity. A sword immortal that was invincible for a generation was still no match for the limited lifespan he had. There have been some who managed to grasp Sword Dao in my sword immortal lineage, and slew fiendcelestials like Elder Sword, but they were only a small handful. All of them were only recorded in books, such as the Daoist and Buddhist sacred lands. Numinous Treasure Mountain, Divine Firmament Chapter, and Primordial Chaos Sect all have immortals alive. Although Scenic Mountain Sect is a shadow of its former self, it still has an immortal presiding over it.”
“Only my sword immortal lineage does not have Essence Soul Dharmic formulations.” Qin Yun shook his head. “Elder Sword is right. Without being an immortal, calling ourselves sword immortals is nothing but a joke.”
Yi Xiao held Qin Yun’s hand.
Qin Yun turned to look at Yi Xiao.
“Qin Yun, you must have heard of our Divine Firmament Chapter’s Ancestral Master Zhang,” said Yi Xiao.
Qin Yun nodded.
Of course he knew that!
The Divine Firmament Chapter’s Zhang family was in no way inferior to Numinous Treasure Mountain’s Bai family. Ancestral Master Zhang had managed to uplift the Divine Firmament Lightning Dharma to an unfathomable state and made the Divine Firmament Chapter enjoy a tremendous rise, making it enter the echelons of Daoist sacred lands. As a result… every generation’s sect master of the Divine Firmament Chapter was helmed by someone from the Zhang family without any exceptions! There were no complaints either because the Divine Firmament Chapter disciples idolized Ancestral Master Zhang greatly. Furthermore, he was still alive!
“In the past, the Divine Firmament Lightning Dharma was not considered strong. The Divine Firmament Chapter wasn’t even a Daoist sacred land! Ancestral Master Zhang managed to perfect and uplift the Divine Firmament Lightning Dharma. It was then recognized as the world’s best Lightning Dharma,” elaborated Yi Xiao. “It’s said that Lightning Dharma is the leader of all Dharma. And with the Divine Firmament Lightning Dharma reigning supreme, all of this is thanks to Ancestral Master Zhang.”
“Since Ancestral Master Zhang managed to uplift a Dharmic formulation to such a state, Qin Yun, it’s possible that you can create an Essence Soul Dharmic formulation for the sword immortal lineage in the future.” Yi Xiao looked at Qin Yun.
Qin Yun nodded.
However, both of them were acutely aware that Ancestral Master Zhang might have perfected the Divine Firmament Lightning Dharma and uplifted it to a higher cultivation level but the Divine Firmament Lightning Dharma was still part of the talisman amulet lineage. The lineage already had other powerful Dharmic formulations that could be referenced.
But the sword immortal lineage was different.
From time immemorial, there had been no Essence Soul sword immortal Dharmic formulations. The difficulty of creating one was clearly much harder. There had been numerous examples of excellent figures in history, peerless sword immortals that had even grasped Sword Dao, but eventually, they passed away in silence. Elder Sword was one example.
“Elder Sword died here and the immortal abode was only opened with the six tokens gathered,” said Qin Yun. “Perhaps, we are the first to see Elder Sword’s corpse. Let’s bury him so that he can rest in peace.”
Yi Xiao looked at the corpse in front of her and said softly, “Second Uncle died because of him. If not for you coming quickly, I’ll probably be dead here too. I was burning with anger actually. However, to face danger after entering an immortal abode is not something that can be blamed on others. There’s no reason to seek revenge on a corpse. Let’s bury him.”
Qin Yun was taken aback.
Yes, he had forgotten that Yi Fenggu had died because of the array formation.
“This Elder Sword is truly ruthless. He did not show any mercy with his array formation.” Qin Yun shook his head. With a wave of his hand, a sword beam flew out and rapidly blasted a huge pit in the earth. He controlled the Heaven and Earth powers and directly moved Elder Sword’s corpse into the pit before covering it. Finally, he set up a tombstone.
On the tombstone wrote: Tomb of Elder Sword.
When Yi Xiao saw the tomb, her gaze turned very cold.
“Qin Yun, this Elder Sword’s corpse was completely empty. Did he not bring any powerful Dharma treasures?” Yi Xiao asked. “Furthermore, the way out is not mentioned on the stone wall.”
“Let’s continue searching. Elder Sword must have his goals for setting up this array formation.” Qin Yun also began to look at his surroundings carefully.